Overview

In 55 sonnets Rainer Maria Rilke plays an astonishing set of philosophical and sensual variations on the Orpheus myth. ‘Praising, that’s it!’ he declares; nature, art, love, time, childhood, technology, poverty, justice  all are encompassed in poems that spark with insight and invention, among the most joyful and light-footed that Rilke ever wrote. Translated by Martyn Crucefix.

"It is easy to feel that if Rilke had written in English, he would have written in this English." New York Times Book ...

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Overview

In 55 sonnets Rainer Maria Rilke plays an astonishing set of philosophical and sensual variations on the Orpheus myth. ‘Praising, that’s it!’ he declares; nature, art, love, time, childhood, technology, poverty, justice  all are encompassed in poems that spark with insight and invention, among the most joyful and light-footed that Rilke ever wrote. Translated by Martyn Crucefix.

"It is easy to feel that if Rilke had written in English, he would have written in this English." New York Times Book Review A masterful translation of one of the masterpieces of 20th cintury poetry.

What People Are Saying

Stanley Plumly

"An artful and sensitive translation of this most elusive of Rilke's poetry...the thing that Rilke made is once again alive to us, all of it...Young has subtracted...the most persistent problem with other translations: he does not let the music of the form haunt the poem. There is no rhetorical 'rounding-out,' in either Pound's fine phrase, emotional slither. The reader feels that Young has successfully 'inhabited' the form, found a correlative language."

From the Publisher

"Willis Barnstone has been appointed a special angel to bring 'the other' to our attention, to show how it is done. He illuminates the spirit for us and he clarifies the unclarifiable. I think he does this by beating his wings."—Gerald Stern

"Willis Barnstone's versions of Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus are daring, passionate, and beautiful. The choices he makes between beauty, song, and literalness serve a cause Rilke would approve. Of all translations of the sonnets, Barnstone's songs tame the animals while serving Rilke's great art."—Stanley Moss, author of A History of Color

Stanley Plumly

“An artful and sensitive translation of this most elusive of Rilke’s poetry…the thing that Rilke made is once again alive to us, all of it…Young has subtracted…the most persistent problem with other translations: he does not let the music of the form haunt the poem. There is no rhetorical ‘rounding-out,’ in either Pound’s fine phrase, emotional slither. The reader feels that Young has successfully ‘inhabited’ the form, found a correlative language.”

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

With acclaimed versions of The Duino Elegies and Uncollected Poems already in print, Edward Snow's historic rendering of the Rilke oeuvre gets one step closer to completion with Sonnets to Orpheus. Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) composed the first set of 26 sonnets just before completing the monumental elegies, and the second 29 just after. Rendered here without rhyme and with German facing text, Snow makes clear why the sonnets are "Sayable only by the singer./ Audible only by the god." Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus (published 1923 in German) rank with the most distinguished works of modern poetry. Written in an extraordinary burst of inspiration, these poems reveal a vision of ``a mode of being in which all the ordinary human dichotomies (life/death, good/evil) are reconciled in an infinite wholeness.'' Stephen Mitchell's translations are masterful re-creations of the original, giving both precise renderings of Rilke's language and sensitive interpretations of his poetic intent. This fine dual-language edition is highly recommended. Ulrike S. Rettig, German Dept., Hervard Univ.

From the Publisher

“An undisputed masterpiece by one of the greatest modern poets translated here by a master of translation”—Voice Literary Supplement

Related Subjects

Meet the Author

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was born in Prague and led a nomadic existence, living in Germany, Russia, Spain, Italy and France before his death in Switzerland from leukaemia. He dedicated himself exclusively to his work, including the New Poems (1907-8), the semi-autobiographical novel The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (1910) and Sonnets to Orpheus (1923). The Duino Elegies (1923) is acknowledged as his masterpiece. Martyn Crucefix has won numerous prizes including a major Eric Gregory award and a Hawthornden Fellowship. He has published five collections, and his translation of Rilke’s Duino Elegies, published by Enitharmon in 2006, was shortlisted for the Cornelius M Popescu Prize for European Poetry Translation and hailed as “unlikely to be bettered for very many years” (Magma).

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